RENO, Nev. — The Serbian government is asking a Nevada court to block the execution of one of its citizens, saying its consulate was not informed of his 1994 arrest as required by international law.
In a brief filed last week in Washoe County District Court in Reno, Serbia maintains the notification would have provided Avram Nika (aye-vrum neek-uh) with assistance that could have spared him the death penalty.
Nika is on death row at Ely State Prison for the 1994 killing of a good Samaritan who stopped to help him along Interstate 80 near Reno.
District Attorney Dick Gammick says there was no consulate to contact because the former Yugoslavia where Nika was from was undergoing drastic change at the time. Gammick also says Serbia did not exist as a country then.
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